Jail time likely for bicyclist's death

-Woman pleads no contest to hitting man with car in 2006 case.

-Woman pleads no contest to hitting man with car in 2006 case.

February 27, 2008|DEBRA HAIGHT Tribune Correspondent

NILES -- A Dowagiac woman will likely spend at least a year in jail after pleading no contest this week to hitting and killing a bicyclist with her car while her license was suspended on Sept. 20, 2006, in Niles. Stevi Lorraine Smith, 38, will be sentenced in Berrien County Trial Court March 31. Smith had been scheduled to go to trial on five felony charges Monday before she accepted the plea agreement. The plea agreement between the prosecutor's office and Smith calls for her to receive a minimum sentence of 12 to 24 months in jail. The 2006 incident occurred after 11 p.m. as bicyclists David Tebo and Edward Hartman were riding home on Terminal Road from their work at TruBlu Industries in the Niles Industrial Park. Smith also was driving south on Terminal Road on her way to her job at National-Standard on Lake Street when she hit both bicyclists. Tebo, 22, died at the scene and Hartman, then 50, was injured. Hartman went through the windshield of Smith's car and landed in her front passenger seat. He testified in a preliminary hearing in October that Smith agreed to take him to Lakeland Hospital in Niles for treatment but denied hitting Tebo and would not stop to check on him. Smith's attorney, Gary Hosbein, said she pleaded no contest because of civil liability concerns. Charges dismissed as part of the plea agreement were operating a motor vehicle while license suspended causing serious injury, manslaughter with a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident causing death and negligent homicide. A sixth charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing serious injury was dismissed earlier by Judge Alfred Butzbaugh for insufficient evidence. Butzbaugh also reviewed the manslaughter with a motor vehicle charge but let that one stand. The remaining charge against Smith carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, Judge Scott Schofield said. Schofield presided over the October preliminary hearing, accepted the plea Monday and will handle the sentencing. In accepting Smith's plea, Schofield used the preliminary hearing testimony to establish a factual basis for her plea. That evidence included the fact that Smith's license had been suspended Sept. 10, 2006, and that her car struck and killed Tebo on Sept. 20. The October preliminary hearing also included testimony showing Smith had been on prescription drugs including one causing drowsiness and had two other accidents where she had run her car off the road in the weeks prior to the fatal accident. Monday, Schofield allowed Smith to continue free on bond until her March 31 sentencing, agreeing with Hosbein that she did not pose a flight risk and that she needed time to get her affairs in order before starting her jail or prison term. Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Travis had asked for Smith's bond to be revoked given the "inevitability of her incarceration."